im thinking about a 2003 2500HD 4x4 from a guy I know through a friend. It has a 185K miles on it. Truck is in decent shape. Im wondering how are these trucks/drivetrains when you get to that type of mileage? What are the types of things I should be looking for?

 

I'd check all of the wheel bearings closely for play as well as all the u-joints and shocks. They might be spent after all those miles. I'd also pop off the wheels and take a close look at the rotors and calipers.
You might not have any problems. It all depends on how well he took care of it.

 

well I bought the truck, it is a 2003 2500 4x4 with a K&N cold air intake. Truck runs pretty good. I think the first thing I will do is get plugs and wires. Which plugs do you guys recomend, and where do I get the taylor wires from?

 

Good ole Champion Coppers for the Hemi, both the 5.7 Hemi and the 4.7 Magnum don't much like hotter plugs, but run great on coppers. Not sure about the wires, but Google will know. Google knows all.

Aside from the mechanical stuff mentioned above, keep an eye on the electrical systems. I turned over 100k miles, no real mechanical problems, but I have had a tail light socket bar go bad and a couple of the LEDs in the dash go out.

 

No matter how you look at it, it is still a high mileage vehicle. You can check the obvious like a tight suspension, leaks and funny sounds. Starter, alternators, fuel pumps, water pumps and the list goes on have a useful life. Ask yourself, is it in good enough condition that if the trans, rear end or even if the engine goes out, would you rebuild or replace it.

Everything is dependent on how much you paid for the truck. Additionally, if you are considering a major build, why pay for components that you going to dump.

Final thought. I would rather take a chance on a well maintained, not abused 180k truck over a 100K truck that was beat to hell. I see many vehicles on the road that have past the 300K mark working everyday. These are people that their livelyhood depends on their truck. I have averaged 250K on most of my trucks, rice burner or american iron. It is usually the rust that does them in here in the northeast. Hopefully with the better materials and boxed frames, that can be extended.

 

I found Taylor 8mm Shorty wires and 16 plugs for $100.00 here:

http://3rdstrike.biz/cart/index.php?...roducts_id=623

 

thanks man! Does everyone recomend the NGK plugs over the champion copper plugs?

 

Well I did plugs and wires, cleaned the throttle body, PCV valve, and the K&N filter. Wow it took me about 4 hours to do all of that, and my knees are feeling it! Im noticing a slight miss now, I went to advanced auto and had them check the code. We had a multiple missfire code. We cleared the codes and I have drove it around for about 10 miles and still no codes, but you can feel a slight miss when idling. I bought a hayes manual but it does not give me the order of how the plug wires are supposed to be matched. what is the order supposed to be? Also I had a code for Evap system, and bank 1 second 02 sensor inputs high....any help would be greatly appreciated guys!

 

Don't know about the firing order. Sorry. Somone on here will know.
That was the beauty of the Shortys. They go from the coil pack to the plug sitting next to them, you can't get them wrong.

 

yeah hopefully someone will chime in with the correct order for wires. BTW your engine compartment looks real good!

Im hoping that I just have an ignition problem and its not valve train related.